Darker than Black ep.12

June 26, 2007 | 12 Comments

This one is a little bit hard to watch for me because I don't find the supporting characters to be that interesting. There was potential in Nick and Hei's friendship but since both characters were in their 'persona', I have no idea if their friendship was genuine or not. I supposed one can argue the friendship was genuine because back then, Nick didn't know about Hei's identity. I wish the actor who played Nick gave more emphasis in his reading of "I am happy to have met you". I think that line, when said to a friend can be very powerful but in this episode it comes across as simple pleasantries. As far as 'love interest' goes, Meena is probably the most annoying thus far. It doesn't help that Hei has this cold attitude towards her. As a result, there was lack of chemistry between the two characters.

The episode begins with a little girl telling her older brother that there's a shooting star in the sky. Upon hearing this, the older brother suggests that the girl makes a wish the next time she sees another shooting star. He explains that shooting star is the light which leaks out when God opens the door to Heaven. Therefore, if you make a wish during such time, God will grant your wish. The girl becomes excited and tells her brother that she has a lot of wishes such as becoming a nurse and going to outer space. In response the boy asks her not to tell him but to wish upon the star. Because of this the girl tries to look for another shooting star and when she sees one, she makes her wish. All of a sudden, the boy turns into adult Hei and Hei himself is surprised to find himself in the place. He tries to run and grabs the little girl, who is clearly his sister, Bai. However, as soon as he make a contact with her, the sky turns blood-red.

As it turns out, however, all of those are just imagination inside Hei's head, who is now standing with an empty expression on his face. Because of this, he unconsciously let the vacuum cleaner on while the researcher are having meeting. Hei gets scolded right away by his supervisor and is told to apologize to the researchers. After Hei left, the researchers continue the discussion about how they think that the synchrotron orbital radiation they saw on the monitor must have been emitted from the meteor. Meena decides to follow Hei into the toilet and asks him if he saw the phantom. She explains how many people have seen it even though they don't want to. She asks him not to keep it to himself since it'll make things easier for him if he talks about it. In response Hei tells her that it's her job to figure things out. As a result, Meena has no choice but to admit that she doesn't want him to leave without leaving some investigation results for her.

Hei assures her that the organization is not going to dispose her. Meena is not so sure about this but Hei tells her that the organization has no expectation of her so he suggests she gets out of here soon. On her way out, Meena ends up bumping into Hei's supervisor so she has no choice but to pretend that she's gone to the wrong toilet. However, she stops to look back and smile at the guy. Later on, Hei returns to the telescope room and finds out from Nick that he's been sent on a mission to recover the substance which produced the synchrotron radiation. Nick doesn't understand why they'd go there since there's been restriction on people entering the place ever since the incident involving the investigation party. Nick then tells Hei that he wants to give him a Satake telescope, an offer which Hei happily accepts. Unfortunately Nick is called to join the recovery team so he suggests that they see the stars when he returns.

During lunchtime, Hei's supervisor asks if he can sit next to him and starts making insinuation about Hei and Meena, causing the latter to run away from the dining room. Hei then finds a note from Meena on his locker, asking him if placing shoes upside down next to Corinna's body is the price of his contract. Hei decides to confront her, asking if she got that information from Kikuchi, the supervisor. Meena explains that she remembers that the guy was the one who discover the body so she felt that she has to do what she can do. In response Hei orders her not to investigate on her own since there's someone dangerous around. He also reminds her that she has her own dream here so he orders her to focus on that. Before Hei can leave, Meena tells him that she doesn't know much about him so she just wanted to talk with him a little bit. Their conversation ends when there's an announcement asking all researchers to go back to the laboratory.

When Mina returns to the lab, she sees the relayed image from the recovery party showing them being attacked by someone. Meena quickly realises that the directory signs in the area are now reversed. When they zoom in on the victims, they also notice that all of their shoes have been taken off and placed upside down. Later on, Hei notices that one of the investigation party actually survived the ordeal and the guy is none other than Nick. Unfortunately, he didn't bring the meteor fragment and Sergei refuses to risk other people in his team to recover it. As a result, the head of the security has to return with empty hand to Eric Nishijima, who makes it clear to the guy that the executives are becoming impatient. A few days later, Hei goes to the telescope room and finds Nick already up and about albeit in a wheelchair and the place is now empty. Nick explains to Hei that he intends on quitting his work here and applying to return to NASA.

This, however, means that Nick has to postpone their stargazing time until later. Nick then offers his hand, telling Hei that he never feel like a stranger to Hei because he sees Hei as another part of himself. Their conversation comes to an end when Nick recognizes Meena standing in front of the door. Later on, Hei fumes at the girl because she contacted him in front of another person. Meena argues that it's incomprehensible that Nick was the only one who came back safely. She has checked the video and can confirm that Nick was not in it. In addition to this, the shoes being turn upside-down makes her believe that it's not something done by the Gate. In response, Hei asks Meena if she ever think of Nick as a Contractor throughout her time working with the guy. Meena denies this but claims that Hei is kinder than other people so she doesn't want to see him hurt. She tries to confess her feeling for Hei but Hei simply leaves her alone.

That night, the head of the security decides to follow Nick, who goes out on his own into the restricted area. He then points his gun at Nick, who's about to open a locker. Nick, however, uses his Contractor power to electrocute the guy and when he still alive, he applies his power directly into the guy's body. While Nick puts the guy's shoes upside down as his contract's payment, he's startled by Hei's appearance. Nick realizes that Hei must be suspicious of him but despite this, he still wants Hei to believe in him. He takes out a lens out of the locker and informs Hei that this is the meteor fragment. Nick then admits that he's actually a CIA employee who was promised a return to NASA if he can bring back the fragment from the Hell's gate. He claims that the work environment here does not suit him since the executives claim research findings and share them with no one. He doesn't even know what the other teams are researching.

Nick feels that his dream is getting away and at this rate, he can't regain the true starry sky and takes his little sister to space. He understands that this sounds crazy but he wants Hei to believe in his dream. In response, Hei informs Nick that he's seen similar object. It heightened the ability of Contractors to the point that they killed each other because they couldn't control themselves. A flashback shows Hei's sister giving the same object to another girl while her face is bleeding. Hei then accuses Nick of lying about everything that he has said thus far because Contractors can't dream. Nick finally realises that Hei is also a Contractor and tries to electrocute Hei but Hei manages to do the same thing and their power cancel each other. Nick grabs a gun and runs out of the building. Hei tries to follow him but is distracted by a visage of his sister. As it turns out, the visage is an illusion caused by the lens that Nick owns.

As soon as Hei touches the girl's shoulder, he can hear Nick pointing his gun to his head. After Nick guesses that they have the same power, he tells Hei that the reason he told Hei his 'dream' was because he thought Hei could understand his dream. All of a sudden the lens amplified the power of both Nick and Hei. Nick tries to shoot Hei but a blue light in the form of a girl protects Hei and envelopes the two men in bright light. When they can see again, they find themselves in an amber-torched sky. Nick is shocked because he reverts to being a little boy. His shock, however, turns into delight when he looks up and notices that there's an opening in the sky revealing the true starlight sky. Not to far from them, there's a cartoon rocket with Nick's name on it so the boy runs to the rocket and blasts off into the sky. Hei then regains his consciousness and finds Yin warning him using the nearby puddle of water.

Preview

Because of this, Hei tries to run away before the security arrives in the area. While attempting to do this, he runs into Sergei, who tells him how to get out. Sergei admits that he had known everything and the reason he didn't react earlier is because he wanted to know the meteor's power. Hei becomes angry upon hearing this and wants to kill Sergei. He, however, stops himself after he gets an assurance that Meena's life wouldn't affected by this incident. Later on, Hei converses with Mao, wondering if the real sky will ever return. Mao disagrees, thinking that only inside the gate that lost things can be recovered. Their conversation ends when the landlady sees Mao and tries to whack him with a broom. Hei decides to head to the cigarette stall where Yin works. When he gets there, he gives Yin a candy and thanks her for her help. The episode then ends with a shot of Amber standing on top of one of the city's skyscrapers.

Impression:

The first part actually had a lot of potential but this second part didn't really explore the possibilities to its full potential. I supposed it can't be helped since the writers have to deal with Nick in this episode but I wish we got to see Bai and Amber a bit more. Speaking of Nick, I'm not too surprised that he ends up having the same ability as Hei. The writers drew quite a lot of parallel between his story and Hei's in the first part so when Corinna was killed, I immediately suspect it was him. It's interesting to know that when two similar powers clash at the same time, it just cancel each other. I do wonder what would happen if either one managed to strike first. As for Nick's payment, I can't help but wonder if Hei has to do the same thing because I think it would be amusing. As for Hei, he once again becomes the target of amorous female attention but unfortunately for the poor girl, he brushed off her attraction to him. Anyway, next week should be interesting with Yin finally getting her share of the story.

On next week's episode: Loli-er Yin (is that even possible?)

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